She'll Come Around Eventually
by shana852963
Summary: How exactly was James finally able to win over Lily after years and years of rejections? Was it his Quidditch skills? His charm? His quick wit? Or is there perhaps more to James Potter than he is given credit for?


"Thirty times!" Sirius exclaimed as he let out a hearty laugh. "You've gone and asked Evans out thirty times, and she's turned you down every chance she got!"

"It hasn't been thirty times, you git," James muttered, sinking further down in his armchair in the far corner of the Gryffindor common room. He glanced over his shoulder to the center of the room, where Lily Evans was studying with a group of girlfriends, her long, red hair draped over her face as she scribbled across a sheet of parchment.

"Fair point, mate," Remus said, looking up from his essay. "It's probably closer to fifty."

"Shut it, will you?" James snapped as Sirius' laughs grew stronger. "She'll come around eventually."

"You've been saying that since second-year," Peter pointed out, wiping a smudge of ink from a page of his textbook.

"Well she will!" James defended. He got to his feet. "I'll show you right now!"

He strode across to Lily's table. "Watcha doing there, Evans?"

Lily and her friends looked up at James. The other three girls at the table let out soft giggles as their cheeks flushed, but Lily looked less-than-amused.

"Studying," Lily said simply.

"Potions, huh?" James said, sitting down in the open seat and glancing down at her book. "Why bother? You're one of Slughorn's favorites. There's no way he'd give you anything but top marks no matter what."

"I prefer to _earn _my marks, thank you," Lily said coolly.

"Of course, of course," James said quickly. "You know, I'm rather strong with potions myself. We can sneak down to the library and have ourselves a private study session."

"We'll leave you two alone," one of Lily's friend's smirked as they all began to gather up their books.

"Thank you, ladies," James grinned as they headed off to the other side of the common room.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you mind, Potter? I've got a lot of N.E.W.T. preparations to do."

"Those tests aren't until next year," James said. "Why are you worrying about them now for? Come on, how about we go down to the Quidditch pitch? We'll use my cloak and no one will ever know. I'll take you for a ride on my broomstick. I'll even let you try and catch the Snitch."

"No thanks," Lily replied.

"Come on, Evans, how many times do I need to ask you to go out with me?" James sighed. "This act is getting a bit old, no?"

"I agree," Lily said, finally looking up from her book. "So why don't you accept that I'm not interested and drop it?"

"Not interested?" James scoffed.

"No," Lily said firmly. "For the hundredth time, I'm not. You-You're just so-so _arrogant. _You walk around the castle as if you own it! You skive off your lessons and then try to charm the professors to let you slide come exam time, you walk around with either your bloody broomstick or that Snitch glued to your hand, and you think you're so impressive shooting hexes at anybody who passes-"

"I don't do that anymore!" James quickly defended. "I've stopped!"

"I saw you do it to Severus just yesterday," Lily pointed out, narrowing her eyes.

James' face fell. "Well-he-he deserves it! You know he'll be out to join You-Know-Who the second he leaves this place!"

"You don't know that for sure," Lily retorted, pulling her books back into her bag. "But the fact of the matter, James Potter, is that you're selfish, conceited, and going out with you is that last thing I would want."

And with that Lily spun on her heel and headed up the staircase to the girl's dormitory. James sat in his seat, slightly stunned by the weight of her words, before he silently got up and returned to the Marauders.  
"Wow, got to say, that was her toughest rejection yet," Sirius said, no longer laughing as he clasped James' shoulder.

"You alright?" Remus asked gently.

"Hmm? Pfft, course I am!" James said, pulling the Snitch back out of his pocket. He stared at it for a second before sliding it back in. "I think I'll have an early night. I called an early Quidditch practice tomorrow."

"But you-" Peter started, but Remus kicked him under the table, causing him to fall silent.

"We'll be sure not to wake you up when we come up then," Remus said, giving James a small smile.

"Thanks," James muttered, turning and heading up to the boys' dormitory.

…

The next evening, James stepped out of Professor McGonagall's office. It was well past midnight, and the castle was nearly pitch black at this hour. The only light came from the gentle glow of the candles on the wall. James reached into his bag and cursed to himself as he realized he had forgotten his Invisibility Cloak. No matter…he had permission to be out of bed at this hour. Still, though, he would've liked to have been able to slip back to the Gryffindor common room undetected.

He started off on the familiar path back to the Fat Lady's portrait when he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

"Lumos!" he heard a voice whisper. A light appeared, and James turned to see Lily coming towards him, her lit wand outstretched in front of her.

"What are you doing out at this hour?" Lily frowned.

"I could ask you the same question, couldn't I?" James pointed out.

"Prefect duties," Lily replied.

"Oh…right," James said, noticing her badge pinned onto her robe.

"I saw you coming out of Professor McGonagall's office," Lily continued. "What were you doing? Trying to take back some of your confiscated Dungbombs?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Evans," James said. "McGonagall would never hide that stuff in her office. Give her some credit."

"Then what were you doing in there?"

"None of your business," James said simply. "But don't you worry; I had permission to be in there. McGonagall lets me-she lets me do something in there."

"Oh, sure," Lily said, her tone dripping in disbelief. "So if I were to go and fetch her right now, she'd be perfectly fine with you coming out of her office at midnight?"

"If you wanted to go and wake the poor woman at this hour, yes, she would be," James nodded. "I'd wait until morning before you go and tell her, though."

Lily lowered her wand. "Well if you just told me what you were doing, you could save me the trouble."

James shrugged. "Fine. If you must know, I was using her fireplace."

"For?"

"I was a bit cold, you see," James said. "And the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room just wasn't cutting it. What do you think I was using it for?"

"So the Floo Network then?" Lily said. "Who were you calling?"

"You're rather nosey about my schedule, aren't you?' James said, raising an eyebrow. "Especially considering I'm just arrogant and selfish."

Lily bit the corner of her lip. "Look…I'm sorry about saying all of that yesterday. I felt bad about unloading on you. You didn't deserve _all _of that."

"Are you just saying that so I'll tell you who I was calling?"

"No," Lily said, shaking her head. "I really did feel bad about it."

James adjusted his bag somewhat awkwardly. "Suppose I did have it coming a bit."

"Yes, well, I should've just called you a thick git and let that have been the end of it," Lily said, smiling slightly.

"That would've been the preferable option," James chuckled.

Lily sighed. "Look…just go back to the common room, okay? I won't talk to McGonagall. You can get a free pass tonight as a peace offering."

"Brilliant," James said. "Pleasure doing business with you, Evans."

He made to turn down the corridor, but he found himself glued to the spot. "Fine…you want to know?"

"Hmm?"

"Want to know who I was talking to?" James repeated. "I'd hate for you to be kept up all night wondering."

"Who was it?" Lily asked.

"My parents, alright?"

"Your parents?" Lily frowned. "Can't you just write them like everybody else?"

"They…They forget to write sometimes," James mumbled. "A lot of the times…"

"Oh," Lily said uncomfortably.

"Not because they're too busy or anything like that," James said quickly. "They-they just-don't remember to."

Lily gave him a confused look.

"They're older, you know," James said, not meeting her gaze. "Much older than most parents. They're, er, starting to get a bit forgetful and McGonagall lets me use the Floo to call home sometimes so I can check on them to make sure they're alright."

Lily stared at him.

"My mum had a pretty bad fall last year, so that's how I was able to convince McGonagall to let me," James found himself continuing.

"Was she alright?" Lily gasped.

"Course she was," James said quickly. "But what kind of son would I be if I didn't check up on them after that?"

"I'm sorry," Lily said gently. "That must be hard."

"It's not bad," James said at once, clearing his throat. "Don't go spreading that around, though. Sirius is the only one who knows about them, and that's only because he's gone and moved in."

"Of course," Lily said. "It's just…that's quite the opposite of being selfish."

"I suppose it is," James agreed.

Lily looked thoughtful. "Would it help if I evened things out and told you a secret of mine?"

"You don't have to," James told her.

"Well, what if I want to?"

"Er…go on then," James said. "If you insist…"

"Severus and I…you know he used to be my best friend," Lily said in a voice hardly louder than a whisper.

"What?" James frowned. "Severus _Snape_?"

"He lives near my town," Lily said, her voice still barely audible. "We met before I even got my Hogwarts acceptance."

"I knew you talked to him…" James said slowly. "I didn't know you were his best friend."

"Used to be," Lily said, looking up at him. "He was different…he didn't used to say things like-like _mudblood_. I mean it, he used to be-he just changed."

James first instinct was to tell Lily that of course someone like Severus Snape would change and become drawn in by the Dark Arts. But the look on her face caused him to keep his comments to himself.

"I think-I think _deep _down, he's still good," Lily said, a tear falling from her bright, green eyes. "But right now…he's-he's just not the same person I used to know."

"Is that why it always got you so worked up when we picked on him?" James asked.

Lily nodded. "I know he comes off a bit…odd, but like I said, he used to be different. _Really_."

James took a deep breath. "I'll lay off him, okay? If he means that much to you…or used to. And I'll tell Sirius to do the same."

"You will?"

"Yes," James nodded. "We won't do a thing to him…unprovoked."

"That's something," Lily said, wiping her eye. She leaned against the wall. "You know…I wonder if he would've been different now if-if there wasn't this war going on."

"Dunno," James said, moving to stand next to her. "But…well…as much as I don't like the bloke, maybe you're right. Maybe there's still some decency in him. Buried, deep, _deep _down beneath his greasy-"

"James…"

"Last bit, I promise," James said quickly.

Lily sighed. "I hope so." She looked up at James. "Come on, we should get back up to the common room. Filch is probably coming along on one of his rounds."

"But you're allowed to be out of bed; I'll just say I'm with you," James shrugged.

Lily gave him a slick grin. "Prefect duties ended at ten."

"Then what are you doing out here?" James asked, caught off guard.

Lily reached into her bag and pulled out a small tray of cakes. "Snuck down to the kitchens."

"_You _snuck out to get cakes?" James exclaimed, letting out a laugh. "Evans! Didn't know you had it in you!"

"You're not the only one who knows how to get around the castle, Potter," Lily winked.


End file.
